![]() For hundreds of years Venice has been a necessary destination, an essential stop on everyone’s “grand tour”.Īt the time of Vivaldi’s birth – in 1678 – Venice was the most decadent, licentious, anything-goes city in the Western world. It is crisscrossed by 177canals and connected by 409 bridges. The city is built in the middle of a shallow lagoon on 118 tiny islands. It was (and remains) a work of art an urban theme park that to this day induces visitors to shake their heads in disbelief. ![]() The city of Venice was not just – once upon a time – the capital of a maritime empire and one of the wealthiest and most populous cities in Europe. Modern scholarship has confirmed that virtually all of them were written for performance at a Venetian convent-slash-orphanage-slash-conservatory of music called the Pio Ospedale della Pietà (the “Devout Hospital of Mercy”), or “ Pietà” for short. Just under half of Vivaldi’s concerti – roughly 230 of them – are for solo violin and orchestra. Let’s hear it for living in an age without electronic distractions!) These are crazy numbers, and despite the formulaic construction of much of this music, we must stand in awe of Vivaldi’s amazing fecundity. Add to that hundreds upon hundreds of sacred works. However, Verdi’s concerti do indeed resonate, and there are a lot of them: over five hundred in number. For better or for worse, the great bulk of these operas have fallen into obscurity their artificial story lines and formulaic construction don’t resonate well with modern audiences. He might just as easily – and accurately – have been called “The Red Violinist” or Il Rosso Compositore: “The Red Composer”.Īll together, Vivaldi composed 49 “serious operas” in the ornate Venetian style that was all the international rage at the time. Vivaldi came to be known il prieto rosso (“The Red Priest”) for two excellent reasons: he had bright red hair and was trained as a Catholic priest. Yes, I know we are all “one-of-a-kind” and that that phrase is way overworked, but truly, Antonio Lucio Vivaldi was a genre unto himself! ![]() On Ma– 341 years ago today – the Italian composer, violinist, priest and rapscallion Antonio Vivaldi was born in Venice. ![]() Probable portrait of Antonio Vivaldi, ca.
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